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1 The The Low Cost Low Cost Gym Gym Homemade Equipment for Functional Homemade Equipment for Functional Fitness Fitness Pete Pete Kemme Kemme Kemmefitness.com Kemmefitness.com

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1

The The Low Cost Low Cost GymGym

Homemade Equipment for Functional Homemade Equipment for Functional

FitnessFitness

PetePete

KemmeKemme

Kemmefitness.comKemmefitness.com

2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Kemmefitness.comKemmefitness.com

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

INTRODUCTION

No Barbells...Really?

The Cheapest Piece of Equipment

The Easiest Necessities

The Homemade Medicine Ball

The Slosh Tube—as Expensive as we Go

More PVC—Parallettes and the Mini Slosh Tube

Our Version of the Heavy Bar

The Clubbell, AKA The Indian Club

Macebell

Odds and Ends—Tires, Rings, and Boxes

3

Introduction

Why write a book about homemade equipment?

There is a growing trend since our lives have been transformed with the

internet. People are taking more and more aspects of life into their own hands.

Whether it is researching symptoms of diseases before seeing your doctor, or

searching for how to change the brakes on your car.

This trend has bled over into the world of fitness. There will always be a

need for personal trainers and gym memberships, but worldwide there is

movement to do-it-yourself.

When I first created Kemme Fitness in 2010 after writing the ebook,

"Creating the body that God intended us to USE," I truly believed that sharing

with others how to create exercises and how to tailor-make your own workouts

would fit in with the do-it-yourself trend. I learned two very important lessons.

Although people around the world have been downloading and using the in-

tense Functional Fitness workouts at kemmefitness.com, the desire for others

to dream up their own workouts – even with the tools provided on the website

and in my book – is only present in a few. What amazed me, however, was the

popularity with an unexpected facet of Kemme Fitness.

The page, kemmefitness.com/homemade-equipment, ranked among the

highest of the pages visited, especially in countries other than the United

States. I received more and more comments and requests for help with making

homemade equipment and for premade workouts using those pieces of equip-

ment.

So in 2011, we at Kemme Fitness made a commitment to share with oth-

ers how to save money by making homemade equipment, and equally as im-

portant, we made a commitment to create more and more workouts for those

thrifty folks trying to live a healthier life without paying those expensive gym

membership fees and equipment costs .

This book is the culmination of those efforts.

About the Author and Kemme Fitness.

Pete Kemme has been experimenting with an ever changing Functional

Fitness program since 2006 and has been training others since 2007. His ex-

pertise – although he wouldn't want you to call it that – comes from years of

research, consultation with physicians and physical therapists, and real world

experience with training adults of various ages and fitness levels.

4

In 2010, his good friend and barefoot running expert, Jason Robillard,

from the Barefoot Running University, inspired him to write his first fitness

ebook and launch kemmefitness.com. Kemme Fitness became a real company

in late 2010, with contributors, Lawrence Boivin, Harvey Barker, and Seth

Crooks being added officially as staff in early 2011.

Lawrence Boivin is a trainer in reality based self defense and mixed mar-

tial arts and has been a creative force behind the Kemme Fitness workouts.

Harvey Barker has been training in Functional Fitness for years with a back-

ground in martial arts and wrestling. His contributions include the design of

the Mini Slosh Tube, among many intense workouts. Seth Crooks, functional fit

by the nature of his day job, joined Kemme Fitness as the At-Home consultant.

He created the Heavy Bar, adds to the At Home workout tool box, and contin-

ues to be a homemade gym purist.

Together, we have been researching and creating homemade pieces of

equipment, and testing out workouts designed specifically to achieve Func-

tional Fitness at a low financial cost. Our archives of workouts is ever increas-

ing, as we continually experiment with new intense and exciting workout for-

mats and designs. Check out kemmefitness.com for free resources. There are

hundreds of exercises and workouts, a free 8 week cross training program for

runners called K-Crosstrain, and much more. The only thing on the entire web-

site that costs is the ebook, "Creating the body that God intended us to USE,"

available for the Kindel, the Nook, and in PDF. Although we tend to give that

away often either way.

Kemme Fitness is about sharing what we have learned from research and

experience. We hope that you enjoy the following chapters. Each one talks

about a piece or two of equipment, how to use it, and sample workouts to get

you started. Then come visit us at kemmefitness.com for years and years of

free workouts full of variety, designed to get you into condition to do life's ac-

tivities, while minimizing injury, and having total body fitness.

5

1

No Barbells...Really?

There are a lot of pieces of exercise equipment that I use on a regular

basis, yet the majority is not in this book. It is not like I don't like Barbells.

Honestly, I have nothing against them. Let me explain.

I train folks in my back yard or the local school,

but also I train others in a fully stocked gym, where I

have access to Barbells, Dumbbells, Physioballs, Ca-

bles, and even Kettlebells. I love Physioballs and Ket-

tlebells, but I have yet to find a way to make a home-

made Physioball. And most versions of homemade

Kettlebells involve either too most cost or skill with

metalwork.

The criteria for this book was simple. All pieces

of equipment had to be homemade and under $15 to

make. You may ask, "But are there enough pieces of

equipment to create a total body Functional Fitness

workout program?" Not only will you have all you need

for a gym at your house, but you do not even need to

create all the articles of equipment outlined in this

book. The more I explore and grow in my program,

the more convinced I am that simple is better. In fact, the only real advantage

to having more equipment is to have more variety. But that can be achieved

with the workout designs themselves.

My suggestion is to read through the following chapters and then go out

into your garage or down into your basement. Look around. See what you al-

ready have stacked up in the corner. Use that as a starting point and create a

few items for your home gym. Save the trip to the hardware store or the local

home improvement store until you feel bored with what you have already.

6

Functional Fitness does not need to cost you money. What it takes is a

willingness to think outside of the box, have some creativity, and a desire to

do something different and fun.

Oh yes…our workouts are fun. Not really the "going to the beach" type

of fun, but you will surprised how you will become addicted to the feeling you

get after doing Turkish Get-ups with a Clubbell or Floor Wipers with a Slosh

Tube.

And I guarantee you will love the way you feel when the muscles and

neural connections in your body work together in the way they were intended.

7

2

The Cheapest Piece

of Equipment

We might as well start with zero. If you haven't already figured it out, I'm

talking about your bodyweight. There are whole websites, books, and fitness

programs using only your bodyweight to get fit. This "piece of equipment" will

give you the foundation for your program. Just check out the following list of

bodyweight exercises we have at kemmefitness.com:

BODYWEIGHT HOLDS

V-Sit

V-Sit Twists

L-Hold

Wall Sit

Elbow Lever

Back Lever

Front Bridge

Side Bridge

Nose to Ground

45 Degree Sit

Planche

Headstand

Handstand

BODYWEIGHT WALKS

Alligator Walk

Gorilla Walk

Inchworm

Frog Jumps

Walrus Walk

Sabertooth

Crab Walk

Bear Walk

Wall Walk

Kangaroo Jump

Duck Walk

Wild Bear Walk

8

BODYWEIGHT STRENGTH

Air Squats

Squat Jumps

Split Squat Jumps

Lunge Walk

Quad Squats

Siamese Squats

Pistol (1 Leg Squat)

Hindu Squats

Lunge Twists

Burpee

Core Burpee

Super Burpee

Man Burpee

Prayer Burpee

Tuck Burpee

Push-up

Uneven Push-up

Plyometric Push-up

Psycho Push-up

Close Grip Push-up

Egyptian Push-up

Twist Push-up

Sidestep Push-up

One Arm Push-up

Scorpion Push-up

Grasshopper Push-up

Military Push-up

Spiderman Push-up

Plyo Spiderman Push-ups

Pike Push-up

Hindu Push-up

Spinning Push-up

1 Leg Push-ups

Medicine Ball Psycho Push-ups

Vertical Push-ups

Dive Bomber

Mountain Climber

Inverted Mountain Climber

Brazilian Crunch

Leg Swoop

Muslim Pray

Frog to Side Plank

Spider Sprints

Rowboat

Body Roll (Side Ground Engagement)

Lower Russian Twist

2 Person Wipers

Sit Up Stand Up Tuck Jump

1 Leg 1 Arm Swing

Frog Jumps

Suspended Side Extension

Side Bridge & Knee Tuck

Leg Raises

Side Lunge

Cross Toe Touches

Donkey Kick

Gymnastic Donkey Kick

Inverted Donkey Kick

Plank 1 Arm Touch

Scissor Kicks

Sit-outs

BODYWEIGHT ELASTICITY

Stutter Steps

Side Jumps

Slalom

Ankle Jump

1 Leg over Line

Tuck Jump

Sprawl

Gorilla Drill

Lateral Bound

9

The above list is also constantly growing as we discover and create new

bodyweight movements. I know this list may include a few, if not tons, of exer-

cises you may unfamiliar with. That is why I have made each one linkable to a

video demonstration, just as we have them linked on kemmefitness.com.

Ready to get started?

I have also included a couple sample workouts to do with absolutely no

pieces of equipment other than your own bodyweight. Just print out the next

two pages. Each chapter will provide two workouts.

10

Bodyweight #1

Kemmefitness.comKemmefitness.com

10 Sit-up Stand-up Tuck Jumps

10 – each side – Scorpion Push-ups

10 Inchworm

10 Quad Squats

10 – each side - Frog to Side Plank

10 Burpee

10 Psycho Push-ups

10 – each side – Pistols

10 Pike Push-ups

10 Tuck Jumps

10 Air Squats

10 Hindu Push-ups

10 Squat Jumps

10 Hindu Squats

10 – each side – Mountain Climbers

10 – each side – Split Squat Jumps

10 Frog Jumps

10 Rowboat

10 Donkey Kicks

10 – each side – Core Burpee

10 Muslim Pray

10 – each side – Brazilian Crunch

10 Prayer Burpee

10 – each side – Twist Push-ups

10 – Leg Raises

10 Tuck Burpee

RINSE AND REPEAT

Two rounds total

11

Push-up Challenge

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The Key word here again is ―Challenge.‖

Pick a number from 6 to 30. Then the challenge is to do that number of reps

for each Push-up exercise below. In between each Push-up exercise (or when-

ever really), you are not allowed to rest, but you are allowed to do one of the

following ―filler exercises‖ for as long as you need to..

FILLER EXERCISES:

Scissor Kicks

Leg Raises

Rowboat

Cross Toe Touches

V-Sit

PUSH-UP EXERCISES:

Push-up

Uneven Push-up

Plyometric Push-up

Psycho Push-up

Close Grip Push-up

Twist Push-up

Sidestep Push-up

Scorpion Push-up

Grasshopper Push-up

Military Push-up

Spiderman Push-up

Plyo Spiderman Push-ups

Pike Push-up

Hindu Push-up

Spinning Push-up

1 Leg Push-ups

NOTE: Any Push-up that involves only 1 side, do not do your reps for each side. So

for example, if you are doing 10 reps, only do 10 Twist Push-ups, not 10 each side.

ANOTHER NOTE: If you are just plain too fatigued to do any Push-ups anymore, try

doing some of them on your knees. It is not cheating. This is a challenge, not a man-

datory all or nothing workout. It may take you several tries to do this.

12

3

The Easiest Necessities

I purposefully use the word "necessities" for this chapter title. If you are

going to get any pieces of equipment, these next two are just no brainers.

They are incredibly cheap and easy to make.

The first is the Heavy Weight. Don't confuse this with the Heavy Bar

(explained later) or the Heavy Bag, which is the large bag hanging from the

ceiling that boxers use. The Heavy Weight is simply a large bag filled with

something heavy. Yep…that's all it is. A bag of sidewalk salt or fertilizer may

be just sitting there in your garage, ready to use. I once threw some barbell

plates into a beach bag, calling it good enough. The key here is to get the ap-

propriate weight for your fitness level.

What better way to prepare to bring shingles up a ladder onto your roof,

than to train with a bundle of shingles. But I have to say, that the more un-

even, or the ability for the weight to shift, the better the exercise will be for

core building and functionality. Think about a sand bag where the sand shifts

as you move the bag up or put it on your shoulder.

The other "necessity" is a Pull-up bar. All you need is something to hang

onto with an open space below. A rafter may be all you need. If you want a

nice smooth bar, it doesn't take much to find (or buy for that matter) a small

piece of pipe that can be attached in a doorway or down in your unfinished

basement cross beams.

Now you can add to your workout program. Again, I have included a list

of exercises with links, as well as a couple of workouts for starters.

13

PULL-UP BAR

Chin-up

Strict Pull-up

Kipping Pull-up

Neutral Grip Pull-up

Commando Pull-up

Jump Pull-up

Burpee Pull-up

Knees to Elbows

Toes to Bar

Back Lever

Muscle Up

Parallel Pull ups

PB Parallel Pull ups

Vertical Push-ups

Triangle Pull-ups

Chimpanzee Hang

Chimpanzee Curls

Chimpanzee Lateral Raise

SAND BAG (or any heavy unstable bag)

Clean

Press & Press

Clean & Press

Thruster

Run

Toss

14

At Home—Heavy Weight

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CIRCUIT #1

10 Chin-ups

10 Dead Lifts with Heavy Weight

10 Pull-ups

25 Push-ups

X2

CIRCUIT #2

10 Thrusters with Heavy Weight

10 Super Burpees

10 Hang High Pulls with Heavy Weight

10 Spiderman Push-ups

10 Lunge Twists with Heavy Weight

10 Burpees

10 Squats with Heavy Weight

10 Uneven Push-ups

X3

ADDITIONAL

If you have not put in 30-40 minutes by the end of Circuit #2, then grab your

Heavy Weight and run with it for a while. If it is bad weather outside, use your

treadmill or simply run up and down your stairs.

Enjoy!

15

At Home—Heavy Weight #2

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CIRCUIT #1

10 Dead Lifts (I held the straps to the bag)

25 Push-ups

5 Presses with Heavy Weight

1/2 mile run (I did mine barefoot on the treadmill)

X4 for a total of 2 miles

CIRCUIT #2

10 Thrusters with Heavy Weight

10 Pull-ups

10 Hang High Pulls with Heavy Weight

10 Spiderman Push-ups

10 Lunge Twists with Heavy Weight

10 Burpees

10 Squats with Heavy Weight

10 Knees to Elbows

X3

16

4

The Homemade Medicine

Ball

You can buy Medicine Balls of all weights, but that wouldn't fit the crite-

ria for this book now would it. This is not only a simple procedure, but can be

quite inexpensive.

WHAT TO BUY

Just go out and buy the cheapest basketball you can find, or recycle one

at your house. The only other thing that needs to be purchased is a tire repair

kit and some shoe goo or something similar. Well if you are like me, you might

not have a small funnel in your kitchen, so you will have to buy one for a dol-

lar.

STEP #1

Punch out the rubber air plug on the basketball.

STEP #2

Shove the funnel in the hole (yes it does make the hole a bit bigger, but

don't fret about it).

STEP #3

Fill the basketball with sand. This takes a while as the funnel gets

clogged frequently, so have some patience here. Fill it until you have the de-

sired weight. A nice heavy one is 20 pounds, but you may want one lighter.

STEP #4

Place in the tire plug and use the cement that comes with it. Let it dry

17

STEP #5

Add a layer of shoe goo for extra protection.

This will ensure the ball will not spill out sand…well

unless you decide to slam it as hard as you can on

the cement. I did that and the plug held, but the

seams did not!

STEP #6

Name the Medicine Ball. I hadn't mentioned this yet, but whenever you

put this much work into making a homemade piece of equipment, you get to

name it. My Carl weighs 20 pounds.

MEDICINE BALL

MB Throws/Passes

MB Thruster

MB Sit Up Stand Up Slam

MB Squat Twist

MB Sit-up Pass

MB Slam

MB Sliders

MB V-Sit Twist

MB Psycho Push-ups

MB Lunge Twists

MB Tri-pod Push-up

MB Plyo Push-up

18

At Home—Medicine Ball

Kemmefitness.comKemmefitness.com

CIRCUIT #1

20 Medicine Ball Sliders

20 Sit-up Stand-up Slams

X2

CIRCUIT #2

30 seconds Medicine Ball 1 Arm Hold (hold MB above your head with your left

arm extended)

5 Squats – 1 Arm (while keeping MB above your head)

30 seconds Medicine Ball 1 Arm Hold (right arm)

5 Squats – 1 Arm (right arm)

5 – each side – Medicine Ball 1 Leg Dips (or 10 if you use 2 legs)

(put both hands on MB behind you, lift 1 leg with other planted on ground.

Then do the 5 dips and switch legs)

X2

CIRCUIT #3

30 reps, 20 reps, 10 reps

Medicine Ball Lunge Twists

Medicine Ball Push-ups (both hands on the MB)

Burpees

CIRCUIT #4

Tabata Protocol

alternate between Medicine Ball Thrusters & V-sit Twists

19

At the Track—Medicine Ball

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This workout was done at a 1/4 mile track with 2 people. Of course, it won’t

take any great amount of imagination to tweek this for 1 person or 4. The

track has some bleachers with 4 sets of stairs, that is used in Circuit #2.

For Circuit #1, we started on opposite sides of the track. We ran 1/2 the track

and performed the prescribed exercise. Then at our own pace we kept running

around until we got to our starting points. There we did the other prescribed

exercise. This was all repeated 3 times.

CIRCUIT #1

½ lap run

10 Medicine Ball Sit-up Stand-up Slams

½ lap run

15 Burpees

X3

CIRCUIT #2

1 person runs up stairs while other does the exercise. When the first person

returns to the bottom, he/she takes over the exercise while the partner runs

up and down the stairs. Then they sprint to the next set of stairs and do the

same there with the next exercise.

1 leg Push-ups

Scissor Kicks

Hindu Push-ups

Leg Raises

CIRCUIT #3

Person #1 does Frog Jumps until lapped by person #2

Switch

Person #1 does Lunge Walk until lapped by person #2

Switch

Person #1 does Medicine Ball Throws until lapped by person

#2

Switch

20

5

The Slosh Tube —

as Expensive as We Go

This is one of the best articles of equipment and can easily replace a

Physioball when it comes to building up your core muscles. Anything down

with a Slosh Tube is a going to engage your core. A Slosh Tube is essentially a

10 foot long pipe half filled with water.

WHAT TO BUY:

Go to a home improvement store and pick

up three items: a ten foot long PVC pipe and two

end caps. Some recommend a four inch diameter,

but those of us with smaller hands appreciate a

three inch. If you do not have the PVC primer and

glue at home, you will need to pick those up as well. The reason this is the

most expensive piece of equipment is those end caps. They are surprisingly

half the cost.

21

STEP #1

Glue one of the end caps on the PVC pipe. Don't forget to use the PVC

primer and cement before sliding on the cap. Let it dry.

STEP #2

Fill the PVC half full of water. There are two main methods for this. Eye-

balling the level is hard due to the lack of light that pierces the PVC to show

the level of water.

One method is to search for the equation on the internet that is used to

determine the volume of water and the measure it out. For those less mathe-

matically inclined, there is a longer, messier, yet easier method. Simply fill the

entire tube up and empty the water out into two buckets. Five gallon buckets

will do. Even out the water in the buckets and pour back one of them into the

tube. If you spill during the process, try to adjust for that and add some more

water.

STEP #3

Glue the second end cap on after adding primer and PVC glue. Let it dry.

STEP #4

Name your Slosh Tube

SLOSH TUBE

Press

Ovehead Walk

Burpee

Twirl

Get up sit up

Squat

Overhead Squat

Overhead Lunge

Front Paddling

Back Paddling

Cossack Squat

Bench Press Throws

Press/Squat Combo

22

Slosh Tube Deck of Cards

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Literally grab a deck of cards. Turn them over one by one. Whenever you turn

over a black card, do the number of reps on the card.

Face cards are all ten repetitions

Aces are eleven reps.

Jokers can be 20 Burpees or something similar.

Black cards under 6—Slosh Tube Floor Wipers

Black cards 6 and over —Slosh Tube Bench Press Throws

Red cards under 6 – Pull-ups

Red cards 6 and over — Slosh Tube Presses

23

Seth #2

Kemmefitness.comKemmefitness.com

CIRCUIT#1

10 Pull-ups

10 yards of Alligator Walk

10 Chin-ups

10 Frog Jumps

CIRCUIT #2

150 yard Slosh Tube carry (do as many Presses with it as you can)

10 Slosh Tube Get-up Sit-ups

150 yard Slosh Tube carry (hold it in a front Squat position – in front of you

under your chin)

10 Burpees

150 yard Slosh Tube carry (any kind – we liked a rear Squat position the best)

25 Air Squats

CIRCUIT #3

20 Hindu Push-ups

5 Pull-ups

20 Mountain Climbers

5 Chin-ups

20 Squat Jumps

20 Spiderman Push-ups

5 Pull-ups

10 – each side – Slosh Tube Lunge Twists

20 Twist Push-ups

5 – each side – Twist Knees to Elbows (touch knee to opposite elbow)

CIRCUIT #4 (bonus)

10 – each side – Slosh Tube Front Paddling

10 – each side – Slosh Tube Back Paddling

24

6

More PVC — Parallettes and

the Mini slosh Tube

Since we already love PVC and it can be cheap in large parts of the

world, we can go ahead and talk about two more pieces of equipment. There

are a lot of connectors for the Parallettes, so that cost can get up there. The

Mini Slosh Tube is just a four foot or so long PVC pipe about two inches or less

in diameter.

WHAT TO BUY

For the Mini Slosh Tube, you will need a four foot long PVC pipe about

two inches in diameter. You will need a bag of cement, which is like $3 or so.

But don't worry, that cement can be used for some of the equipment in the up-

coming chapters. You'll need 6 screws as well.

The Parallettes are a bit more complicated. You will need about six feet

of PVC pipe with a diameter that is comfortable for your palm, so greater than

one inch. Pick up four PVC T-connectors, eight end caps, and four 90 degree

elbow joints. Make sure you have a hacksaw to cut the PVC and the primer and

cement to glue it.

STEP #1 MINI SLOSH TUBE

Mix up enough cement to fill the PVC up about six inches. Put 3 screws

into the bottom of the PVC pipe below the level of the cement so the cement

has some "rebar" to grab onto. Stand the PVC pipe up and drop in the cement

and let it dry.

STEP #2

Fill the pipe up half way or three quarters with water.

25

STEP #3

This is the tricky part. You have to tape a plastic bag in the open end of

the PVC pipe to catch the cement so it doesn't drop down into your water. I

also put a piece of cardboard in there to help. Make sure the top of the plastic

bag is below the three screws you will put into the end of the pipe. If not, wa-

ter will leak out around the screws.

STEP #4

Carefully fill the end with cement. Don't drop it in too fast or your plastic

bag may not hold it. Let it dry.

STEP #5

Make sure there are no leaks. If there are some minor leaks, apply coats

of PVC cement until the leaks stop.

STEP #6

Name your Mini Slosh Tube

MINI SLOSH TUBE

Front Baton Pass

Back Baton Pass

Conan

Hockey Twist

Lunge Twist

Samurai Chop

Samurai Chop & Thrust

Bass ass Swing

Pistols

Overhead Pass

Overhead Pass with

Squat

Overhead Lunge Walk

Crane

26

STEP #1 PARALLETTES

Cut a piece of PVC pipe about a foot and half in length and attach two

elbow pieces on the ends. You don't need to glue any of the Parallettes if you

don't want to. It can be handy to have them pull apart for travel.

STEP #2

Put four to six inch pieces of pipe into the other ends of the elbows and

the attach two of the T-connectors on the other end of those small pieces of

pipe. This gives your foot and a half long piece of pipe some height off the

ground.

STEP #3

Time to stabilize those two legs more. Add three to five inch pieces of

pipe out of both sides of both of the T-connectors. Hint, you just used four

pieces of the three to five inch pipe. Put caps on all four ends to finish off a

Parallette.

STEP #4

Repeat steps 1 through 3 for your other Paralette.

STEP #5

I didn't name mine and I'm not sure why, but feel free to name yours.

PARALLETTES

Dips

Handstand

Push-up

L-Hold

27

PVC Day

Kemmefitness.comKemmefitness.com

CIRCUIT #1

10 – each direction – Mini Slosh Tube Bass-ass Swings

20 Mini Slosh Tube Samurai Chop & Thrust

X2

CIRCUIT #2

Mini Slosh Tube Conan

Ring Push-ups

Ring Dips

21 reps, 15 reps, 9 reps

CIRCUIT #3

10 Mini Slosh Tube Samurai Chops

20 Seconds Parallette L-Hold

10 – each side – Mini Slosh Tube Overhead Pass with Squat

BONUS

2 runs around the house

10 – each side – Mini Slosh Tube Front Baton Pass

2 runs around the house

8 – each side – Mini Slosh Tube Back Baton Pass

Repeat as needed

28

PVC Blitz

Kemmefitness.comKemmefitness.com

RULES:

30 seconds each exercise

No rest in between

1 minute rest after each 4 minute round

8 Rounds, starting with a new exercise each round, but still doing them all in

the round.

(ie. round 1 starts with Burpees and ends with Parallette Push-ups. Round 2

starts with Leg Raises and ends with Burpees)

EXERCISES:

Burpees

Leg Raises

Slalom

Mini Slosh Tube Lunge Twists

Get-up Stand-up Tuck Jumps

Mini Slosh Tube Samurai Chop

Mountain Climbers

Parallette Push-ups

29

7

Our Version of the Heavy Bar

The Heavy Bar is sort of a look-around-your-house-and-go-with-what-you-

find type of piece of equipment. Seth Crooks from Kemme Fitness did just

that.

Seth had a long section of 8 feet long of landscape lumber – 3 pieces

nailed together to be exact. After shaking out all the bugs and critters living in

the creases, he attached two pieces of that rope to some plywood, and then

screwed those on to make handles. I know…awesome, right?

Here are some photos of what he created.

30

But Seth didn’t stop there. He also had to come up with a unique exer-

cise just for his homemade Heavy Bar. Two of the first are the Wall Touch and

the Row Boat Wall Touch. They look easy on the video, but trust me they are

not. The wall touch in and of itself takes a lot of strength. To make it more dy-

namic, we tried to pick a mark high on the wall and touch that for the Row

Boat Wall Touch.

And of course there are tons of the usual movements you can do with

the Heavy Bar such as a Press, Floor Wipers, etc. Just think of most things you

can do with a barbell and you can do it with the Heavy Bar. Below is a more

comprehensive list that we use.

HEAVY BAR

Wall Touch

Row Boat Wall Touch

Lunges

Press

Floor Wipers

Curls

Romanian Deadlift

1 Leg Romanian Deadlift

Squats

Hang High Pull

Twists

Lunge Twists

31

Stress the Press

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CIRCUIT #1

10 Heavy Bar Presses after every exercise

20 Push-ups

10 Slosh Tube or Heavy Bar Floor Wipers

20 V-Sit Twists

20 Leg Raises

x2

CIRCUIT #2

10 Heavy Bar Presses after every exercise

100 Heavy Rope Jumps or 20 Burpees

x4

CIRCUIT #3

10 Heavy Bar Presses after every exercise

20 Crunches each side (alternating elbow to opposite knee)

10 Heavy Bar Wall Touches

10 Twist Push-ups right side only

10 Twist Push-ups left side only

x2

33

8

The Clubbell, AKA the

Indian Club

The Homemade Clubbell is an incredibly low-cost ad-

dition to your home gym. This piece of equipment is more

mainstream then some of our others and there are plenty

of tutorials on the web to help you with exercise ideas and

proper form. Check out our Exercise Page and scroll down

to the Clubbell for several links to get you started.

Also, you can simply replace the Clubbell for other

pieces of equipment such as the Heavy Weight/Sand Bag,

Mini Slosh Tube, or Kettlebell, and perform exercises dem-

onstrated for those pieces of equipment.

The Homemade Clubbell is not only one of the

cheapest, but definitely one of the easiest tools we have in

our Low Cost Gym. As you can see by the photo, I simply

have the $4 thrift store wiffle bat.

STEP #1

Choose the filler material. I opted for cement, which gave me a 15 pound Club-

bell. That turned out to be perfect for me. Other options are pea gravel or

sand, among other things.

STEP #2

Cut a hole in the base of the handle.

STEP #3

Pour in your material. I mixed up some cement and slowly filled her up. Then

let it dry if you use cement.

34

STEP #4

Seal the Clubbell. It is not really necessary if you used cement, but I put a

touch of duct tape on there in case any of the cement crumbled off. If you use

sand, you will have to make the cap more secure. I would save the cut piece of

plastic and glue/tape that back on.

STEP #5

Name your clubbell.

CLUBBELL (INDIAN CLUB)

Torch Press

Two Handed Press

Swipe

Barbarian Press

Alternating Shield Cast

Front Circle

Mill (short for windmill)

Mill (another version)

Side Swing

Side Semi

Front Swing Hand Switch

Outside Pendulum

Front Pendulum

Inside Pendulum

Rear Lunge Pendulum

Side Lunge Pendulum

Turkish Get-up

Barbarian Squat

36

Clubbell Swing Workout

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10 Push-ups

10 – each side - Swipe

10Pull-ups

10 – each side - Front Circle

10 Air Squats

10 – each side - Side Swing

10 Psycho Push-ups

10 – each side - Side Semi

10 Lunge Walks

10 – each side - Front Swing Hand Switch

10 Muslim Prays

10 – each side - Outside Pendulum

10 Chin-ups

10 – each side - Front Pendulum

10 Get-up Stand-up Tuck Jumps

10 – each side - Inside Pendulum

10 Pull-ups

10 – each side - Rear Lunge Pendulum

10 Quad Squats

10 – each side - Side Lunge Pendulum

37

9

Macebell

There are several ways to make a Homemade Macebell. One common

way is to take a long stick, such as an old rake handle, and put that into a plas-

tic fall. Fill the ball full of cement and then remove the plastic outer shell after

the cement dries. But there are some important tips to remember when mak-

ing your Homemade Macebell. Although making a Homemade Macebell is in-

credibly cheap, I want to make sure you only have to do it one time, so here

are some tips.

TIP #1: Rebar. I had this problem with my first ver-

sion. When you stick a pole/pipe or whatever you

chose into the cement, you have to have some rebar

(for lack of a better word). For my wood handle, I put

3 screws in it at various angles to give the cement

something to grab onto. Lawrence and harvey had

screwed on flanges onto their metal pipes and Law-

rence even added some screws into the flange.

TIP #2: Wood versus metal. Metal wins hands down. Just look at some of the

Macebell Exercise videos I made on the Exercise Page. You can see the thin

wooden rake handle bending with the 19 lb Macebell. One word here – danger-

ous! Somebody with as many stitches and only 9 fingers such as myself

should not be using something heavy that could possibly snap and come

crashing down on himself.

38

TIP #3: Weight. This is as important as it is difficult to control. It is incredibly

hard to determine ahead of time how much your Homemade Macebell will

weigh when your cement dries. I have a 19 lb Macebell, which is way to heavy

for Swings and Grave Diggers. I use my 10 lb Macebell for that. Lawrence’s 14

lb Macebell is what I would call the ideal max weight. Lawrence is strong and

this provides a good challenge without making swings impossible. I would not

go over that unless you are Pavel Tsatsouline.

TIP #4: The previous tip leads us to this one. What do you use to pour your ce-

ment into? If you want it round, then of course a SMALL ball would be best. But

my split-open medicine ball created way too heavy of a Macebell with the 19

lbs. Lawrence used the bottom of a windshield wiper bottle. It wasn’t round,

but it got him his 14 lbs. Harvey did a pumpkin pail, but his is like 30 lbs or

something ridiculous! Lawrence even kept his plastic on and decorated it. I’d

go with his next time. Or just not fill my medicine ball all the way up?!

TIP #5: Adding additional weight. Lawrence’s version with the metal pipe

ended up with an extra advantage. It is the perfect diameter to slide down

some metal weight plates to make his 14 pounder into a 15 1/2 pounder, etc.

Just Gorilla Glue the plate down to the top of the cement Macebell (his is flat

on the top so even better) and tada!…you have a heavier Macebell.

So when you decide to make your Homemade Macebell, spend some

time to think about what you are going to make it with. I strongly suggest us-

ing a metal pipe and keep the cement ball small enough to get no more than

14 lbs. If you are a beginner, shoot for a 5 pounder. It is always better to start

lighter. And when it only costs a couple of bucks to make a new Homemade

Macebell, you can always have more. Or just follow tip #5 and add more

weight that way.

MACEBELL

2 Handed Swing

1 Handed Swing

Around the World

Front Plank Walk

Back Plank Walk

Half Spin

Half Spin with Squat

Shoveling

Grave Digger

Spear Thrust

Overhead Pass

Overhead Pass with Squat

Offset Bench Press

Levered Bench Press

Levered Bent Over Row

Levered Shoulder Press

Canoe Row

Kayak

Pendulum Swing

Side Bend

Overhead Side Bend

39

Intro to the Macebell

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CIRCUIT #1

2 Macebell Plank Walk

10 Macebell Swing (left side – 10 lbs)

10 Pull-ups

run around the house

10 Macebell Swing (right side)

10 Toes to Bar

run around the house

CIRCUIT #2

10 Grasshopper Push-ups

10 – each side – Macebell Pendulum Swing

10 Muslim Pray

10 - each side – Macebell Grave Digger

10 Burpees

10 Macebell Swing (left side)

10 – each side – Leg Swoop

10 – each side – Macebell Kayak

10 – each side – Cossack Squat

10 Macebell Swing (right side)

10 Chin-ups

10 – each side – Macebell Pendulum Swing

10 Plyo Spiderman Push-ups

10 Jump Squats

10 – each side – Macebell Levered Bench Press

CIRCUIT #3

1 run around the house

2 Pull-ups

4 Dips

8 – each side – Lateral Bound

16 Air Squats

Repeat as needed

40

Macebell 300

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CIRCUIT 1:

10 360 Macebell Swings (5 each side)

15 right hand Macebell Spear Thrust

15 left hand Macebell Spear Thrust

5 Pull-ups

20 Push-ups

15 Macebell Grave Digger

30 Hindu Squat

15 right hand Macebell Shovel

15 left hand Macebell Shovel

30 Leg Raises

10 360 Macebell Swings

20 Push-ups

15 Macebell Around the World

20 Macebell Kayaks

15 right hand Macebell Canoe

15 left hand Macebell Canoe

5 Pull-ups

10 Burpees

10 Push-ups

10 360 Macebell Swing (five each side)

CIRCUIT 2:

1 mile run

41

10

Odds and Ends — Tires,

Rings, and Boxes

Well two of these pieces of Equipment probably won’t need any con-

struction. You really can’t make a large tire, but can find one for free many of

times at farms or tractor companies. A box does not need to be made, al-

though a 2 X 4 with OSB board construction is pretty basic. I simply use chairs

and other items that are close to 2 feet off the ground.

Why spend money if you don’t have to?

Now the Gymnastic Rings are much more complicated. There are some

ideas on the internet, but basically I narrowed it down to two different meth-

ods. Both of them had their advantages.

RINGS:

The first way is make your rings more of a one third circle by using a

curved piece of PVC. The other way creates a full ring. This is how I made

mine. I bought those little metal leather making rings. They came in a pack of

7. I put 3 of them together and duct taped the tar out of them for each ring.

Tada!

RING STRAPS:

If you made the PVC rings, just run a rope through it and attach it to a

bar or the ceiling somehow. Not a biggie. For my duct tape contraptions, I sim-

ply bought some inexpensive truck straps so I could easily attach and unattach

the rings. I marked spots with black marker at various parts in order to make

sure I could match up the height on both rings easily.